


Under My Spell

by morrigone



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-09-05
Packaged: 2018-08-11 09:09:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,294
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7885117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morrigone/pseuds/morrigone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance is in love with his best friend. Allura tells him about an ancient Altean magic that may just cause him to like Lance back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Lance couldn't put a finger on exactly what it was about his best friend that had made him fall in love. Probably because there was so much to choose from. He was one of the funniest people Lance knew, for one thing. He was always ready with a joke that was neither hurtful nor mean. In fact, his self-deprecating sense of humor made him even more attractive, for in the moments that he wasn't making some sort of joke Lance would watch him cautiously from the corner of his eye. He would be re-tying his bandana, or sighing softly as some mysterious thought, his lashes fluttering gently as he turned over ideas in his mind like pebbles.

He was the most generous person Lance knew, and Lance often had to hide his gratitude with the sort of mocking humor that unfortunately came naturally to him, so by the time the joke had come out of his mouth he was usually already doubling back in his mind and stopping his tongue from making it worse.  
But more than controlling his errant tongue, Lance wished more than anything that he could control Hunk's feelings towards him. Preferably, he wished to change them to something less platonic.

"Hey, are you gonna finish that?"

"I knew you were gonna ask that," Lance smirked to hide the thoughts he had just been having, "Isn't one serving enough?"  
Hunk just smiled broadly, serene and unfazed.

"Nah, maybe for you!"

Lance pulled his pasta closer to him and tried to resume the stream of thoughts he had just been having while he watched Hunk stand up to get more garlic bread. He spoke amicably to the other paladins, even milking a tight-lipped smile from Shiro, which was rare. Somehow, he could get along with pretty much anyone.

Allura tapped Lance on the shoulder and he jumped. She was beautiful, as always, hair glowing in the white light of the ship.

"You and Hunk are quite close, aren't you?" she said in hushed tones.

Lance looked around, but Hunk had disappeared to get his second helping. Lance looked sadly down at his empty plate, wishing he had asked him to get more for him as well.

"Yeah..." Lance quickly tried to think of something flirtatious to say as Hunk re-emerged with a plate heaped with pasta.  
"Though not as close as you and I could be!" he said a bit louder, touching Allura's arm. She shrugged him off.

Her voice remained hushed even though there was no need. Keith, who had had a few too many glasses of the strange Altean alcohol, was loudly explaining the importance of wing density to Hunk, who was nodding and smiling as if it was the most interesting thing he had heard all day.

"Have you ever wondered how this ship is powered?" Allura smiled coyly, sipping her drink.

Lance shook his head, hoping she would not launch into a long, scientific discussion he couldn't follow.

"It's simple," she said, leaning closer, "I possess an energy that the people of Earth have only, incorrectly, referred to as mind control. This ship is a thinking entity, and thus I can control it. But I can control human... feelings as well."

Lance suddenly perked up. That was not what he had expected to hear. He raised his eyebrows.

"Real mind control?"

"Well, there's a lot of science behind it," Allura said matter-of-factly, tucking a thick strand of silver hair behind her ear,

"You see, when a magnetic field is strong enough it can simulate neural activity--"

"Uh huh, cool. Why are you telling me this?"

Allura smiled. She was quiet for a moment, pushing food around her plate. The others were still talking loudly about why Hunk couldn't be the head of the lion.

"--always the black lion, lads--"

"--suppose I could reprogram--"

"Pidge, I really doubt--"

Lance wondered why Allura was telling him this. He knew she wasn't interested in him. She had made that clear through a flurry of insensitive comments about his weak human physiology. She continued.

"Because... let's say you liked someone... and they just thought of you as a friend."

Lance blinked as Allura's eyes flicked to Hunk, who was doing an eerily good impression of Coran, using a piece of spaghetti as a mustache and scrunching up his eyebrows. Lance couldn't help but laugh out loud, and the way Hunk smiled back at him made him tingle with joy. Hunk winked at him and turned back to the other paladins.

"Who?" Lance went bright red and lowered his voice, "Hunk? I thought I'd made it very clear that I like the ladies."

He tried to smirk, but his nerves made it hollow and unbelievable.

Allura sighed.

"I do not understand your primitive Earthly beliefs that attraction must be confined to a single gender."

Lance thought about how long he wished for Hunk to feel the same way about him. He thought about Hunk's smile. He thought about what it would feel to kiss that smile just once. But he had no idea how Hunk felt about him, and he didn't want to ruin their friendship. Lance leaned closer to Allura. This time, it wasn't flirtation. He switched his tone to something much more confidential.

"Why do you want to help me?"

Allura stared at him for a minute, crystal eyes shining.

"Because I know what it's like to love someone deeply. And you two deserve each other."

That was kind of an insult to Hunk, Lance thought, but he just nodded as if he understood.

"So you can make him... like me?"

Allura grinned in such a way that she almost looked relieved, as if she had been waiting to use this power for a long time.

"Just say the word," she said.

Lance looked at Hunk one more time. He was carrying everybody's dishes to the kitchen, his relatively large arm muscles even more pronounced under the weight.

"The word," he said.

Allura groaned.


	2. Chapter 2

Hunk's voice crackled over the intercom.

"Hey, Leg Number Two!"

Lance laughed, swerving to narrowly avoid a tree.

"Why do you get to be Leg Number One?"

He could feel Hunk's warmth over the intercom. They flew side-by-side for a while, dipping and swerving in tandem.

"Okay, you can be Leg Number One," Hunk said brightly, appearing on the video monitor to give him a thumbs up at a particularly difficult move. Lance's heart fluttered.

"What, you're not gonna fight me for the title?" he paused, smirking at the monitor, "I guess I'd win anyway."

Hunk circled Lance's lion slowly as the horizon approached, slowing a bit to take in the vibrant colors. They were far away from the castle now, and all that could be seen was inky grass below them and the periwinkle-violet sky above.

"We're on the same team, buddy."

Was that... flirting?

Lance decided to try something else, just to see whether Allura's spell was already taking effect. He turned to the monitor.

"What do you think of my hair?" he asked abruptly.

Before they had left Earth Lance had cut off a significant amount of it, and he had always wondered what Hunk thought but had been too afraid to ask. However, something about Allura's spell emboldened him.

Hunk seemed surprised, but only briefly. He glanced at the monitor for a few moments. Lance felt exposed, as if Hunk had never really looked at him before.

"What, is Keith making you miss the mullet?" Hunk asked lightly.

"Ugh! No way!"

Lance accelerated involuntarily and Hunk laughed, speeding up with him. They both approached the ground, sliding easily into the grass. Hunk's lion hit the ground a bit harder than Lance's. They had landed right in front of some sort of body of water, which glittered as the two boys exited their lions. The land was so beautiful it felt like stepping into a photograph. Lance tumbled out of his lion, tripping a bit on the uneven terrain. The grass practically glowed in the moonlight. It felt soft against Lance's sneakers, which were so worn through he could feel a bit of it poking through his toe.

He watched Hunk follow him out of his lion, his large, able body righting itself much faster than Lance's had. Hunk stepped towards him slowly. As he got closer, Lance noticed that his pupils looked slightly blown out in the darkness. Hunk rubbed his neck.

"Hey... Sorry for teasing. Your hair looks good."

Lance felt himself going red. He turned his body to keep Hunk from noticing. That was definitely a compliment.

The irony of Hunk apologizing for teasing Lance was obvious, but Lance didn't point it out.

They sat lightly on the grass, which felt a lot different than earthly grass. For one thing it was dark blue, and it felt more like moss than grass. Nevertheless, it provided a soft cushion for the two paladins.

Lance looked up at the sky, staring into the stars and thinking of Allura, wondering how effective her spell was going to be.

That was when he realized Hunk was still looking at him.

Lance turned to him. The wind was picking up and the strange, moss-like grass was swaying gently. A piece of hair blew into Lance's face. Hunk smiled, reaching up and brushing the hair back. His fingertips were soft against Lance's face. Everything seemed to stand still as the steely moon emerged from behind a cloud, illuminating Hunk's face and giving him a dreamlike appearance, every color perfectly visible while his features were blurred as if behind a thick fog.

"I just realized..." Hunk trailed off.

His hand was still hovering by Lance's face.

"Yeah?"

Hunk lowered his hand, still staring at Lance.

"Your eyes aren't dark brown... They're, like, praline color."

Lance tried to hide his surprise by turning away and focusing once more on the moon reflected on the rolling river in front of them.

"Okay, buddy," Lance mumbled, trying to seem amused but nonchalant. He was pretty sure he had failed.

It was one of the oddest things Hunk had said to him, but Lance was now sure that Allura's spell was taking effect. How else would Hunk have looked close enough to notice the minute shade of his eye? Also, he had said praline, which was one of Hunk's favorite foods. They had been friends for long enough for Lance to know that if Hunk associated something with food, it was a positive thing.

Lance turned to him. Hunk was no longer looking at him with that dazed expression. He was gazing at the water pensively. Lance longed to ask him what he was thinking about, but he refrained.

"It's late, maybe we should start heading back," Hunk said.

Lance checked his watch but something about space travel had warped the watch so the minute hand kept turning as if hours were going by in seconds. Like a time lapse.

"Alright, I guess you need your beauty rest, huh?"

Even in the darkness, he caught Hunk blushing furiously.


	3. Chapter 3

They were running. All of the paladins were streaking across the field like bullets. Shiro was the fastest because his legs were the longest, but tiny Pidge was lighter on her feet, putting her in second place. Keith and Lance would have been neck-in-neck, if Lance had been able to see Keith's neck, which was covered with his thick hair. Hunk was last.

Lance watched him as he approached them, sweating much more than the other paladins. Still, he was quite fit, barely panting at all as he gained on Lance.

"Come on, paladins! Faster!"

Lance had no clue what the point of this exercise was, except to torture them a bit more before their next battle. On top of the running, they were all carrying heavy backpacks, which Coran had cheerfully informed them were to make sure they didn't slack off.

"Getting..." _(pant)_ "Tired, Keith?" Lance asked.

Keith's dark features turned to face him briefly.

 _(Gasp)_ "No... You?"

Lance shook his head furiously, and in the process he made the mistake of looking at Hunk. He was still slightly behind Keith and Lance. His bandana has come untied and he was reaching up to pull it off. It was his expression that caught Lance. His eyes were narrowed in determination, staring only at the ground in front of him, his mouth curved in a slight smile. And the most surprising thing was that he didn't even look at the other paladins. He was completely focused on challenging himself, with no sense of competition whatsoever. It was... actually kind of impressive.

"Alright, boys. Take a breather."

That was Allura. Lance immediately slowed to Hunk's pace. Hunk flashed him a lopsided, slightly sweaty grin.

"Hey."

Lance glanced at Allura, who was looking at him from across the field. They held each other's gaze for a moment, and he saw her wink at him. Lance raised his eyebrows and turned back to Hunk, who was staring at him curiously as he brushed his bangs out of his face.

"What?" Lance asked.

Hunk shook his head slightly, as if waking up from a dream.

"Nothing!" He smiled at the ground and paused.

"Just... you look really good today."

Lance looked down at the sweats he was wearing. He knew for a fact that his face was bright red (though whether it was from the exercise or from Hunk noticing his appearance it was difficult to say.) He was sure he looked anything but good.

"Um, thanks. Now, how about we take our good-looking selves back to the castle?"

Hunk nodded, but then he turned his head briefly to look at Allura.

"Actually, I'll catch up with you later, okay? Let me take your bag."

If Hunk had been a girl, Lance would have protested. But he knew Hunk had much more upper body strength than he did, and Lance really didn't want to carry that bag. He swung it off of his shoulder, handing it to Hunk. In the process, their hands touched, and without thinking Lance wrapped his fingers around Hunk's for a moment. He slid his thumb down Hunk's palm gently and then finally released the bag.

"Thanks," he said softly.

Hunk smiled.

"Don't mention it."


	4. Chapter 4

It was probably a bit too late for Lance to be getting himself a snack, but he deserved it. After all, they _had_ been battling a giant robot monster all day in the hopes of protecting a civilization of innocent aliens. That had to work up an appetite.

He crept down to the kitchen, making sure to skip the third step from the bottom. Lance had moved homes often enough in his childhood to know that if a house had a staircase, it would inevitably have a creaky step. This was a particularly surprising discovery on Allura's ship, considering the fact that everything was made of marble.

Lance tiptoed to the kitchen, thinking about the delicious custard Hunk had miraculously whipped up out of the Altean food goo. He breezed into the kitchen, jumping when he noticed Hunk.

He was bent over the sink, attempting to scrub caked-on goo from a plate. He turned to Lance.

"Hey, I put some extra dessert aside. It's on the counter."

Sure enough, there was a healthy serving of custard sitting in a bowl on the counter along with a glass of water.

"How did you know..." Lance started.

Hunk squirted some soap on a sponge and started to wash a pan cheerfully. He yawned a bit as he answered.

"You always got a midnight snack back at the academy, right? I saw you sneaking food back to your room at dinner."

Lance dipped his finger in the custard and licked it. Hunk stopped washing the pan momentarily and stared over his shoulder, watching Lance suck on his finger carelessly.

"You're pretty observant," said Lance.

Hunk blushed and started scrubbing the pan a bit more roughly. It was so cute that Lance had a sudden urge to do something completely out of character. He put down his spoon and stood up.

"You wash, I'll dry?" he said.

Hunk squirted some more soap onto the sponge.

"You want to... help?"

Lance grabbed a cloth.

"Hey, I'm not that selfish. In fact, I'm the full package: helpful, smart, sexy..."

"Humble," Hunk smiled, handing him a large dinner plate.

"Of course."

Lance polished it clean and placed it on the drying rack. Hunk crossed the room and picked up a rag and soap. He was really doing everything around here, and nobody had even noticed. Lance was considering thanking him when Hunk said something that stopped his hand as it slid across the cup he was drying.

"Then why do you think you never got a girlfriend? Back at the academy, I mean."

Lance turned around and found Hunk slowly rubbing the countertop with his rag. He looked up at Lance through dark lashes.

At this point, Lance couldn't help himself. He put down the cup he was holding and stepped lightly towards Hunk, who had turned back to his cleaning in an almost embarrassed manner.

"Well, I never pulled the moves on her."

Hunk blinked. He seemed like he wanted to laugh, but wasn't quite sure whether Lance was being serious. He settled with meeting his gaze once more, curiously. Lance continued.

"You probably want to know, right? So you can get a girlfriend."

Hunk seemed speechless. Lance gestured for him to put down the Altean All-Purpose Cleaner and he did so. They were now facing each other across the counter.

"First," Lance said, his heart beating fast, "You take her hands."

Slowly, he took both of Hunk's hands in his. He felt how warm his friend was. They had shared a plane for long enough that Lance knew Hunk had a naturally high body temperature, but he was especially warm today.

Lance took a step around the counter, closer. Hunk's eyes were wide, but he made no move to step away.

"Then, you give her a compliment."

Lance traced the outside of Hunk's hand with his thumb.

"Your hands are really soft," Hunk said suddenly. It seemed as if he meant it.

Lance laughed, trying to hide his nerves.

"Yeah, like that I guess."

He paused. This was the point where he could just step away and pretend this was a joke at Hunk's expense. But somehow he couldn’t do it this time. Without even thinking he found himself saying, "And then you kiss her on the cheek. Just once, lightly, you don't want to—"

Hunk's hand slipped out of his and moved to the side of Lance's face. He touched his right cheek and pressed his lips to Lance's left one, softly.

"Like that?"

Lance felt himself turn brick red. He squeezed Hunk's other hand and let go, backing away slowly.

"Perfect! You're ready for a girlfriend! Okay, good night!"

Lance waved in what he hoped was a cheerful manner, and then left the kitchen, speed-walking back to his room. He couldn't believe he had done that. More than that, he couldn't believe he was running away, not when he was so close to having the person he had wanted for so long. 

But as he walked up the staircase, he realized why it felt so wrong. If the only reason Hunk was attracted to him was because of Allura's spell, then it wasn't real attraction at all. Lance didn't want Hunk to kiss him because he was brainwashed. He wanted Hunk to kiss him because he wanted to.

Lance arrived at his room, closing the door behind him and flopping onto his bed. The soft, cloud-like mattress reminded him of Hunk, and he wondered if he had ruined his friendship for good.

**Author's Note:**

> New chapter coming soon. These two are so cute, I love writing about them :-)


End file.
